Strand guide for unit type stranders



Feb. 6, 1951 s. PITT EIAL 2,540,833

STRAND GUIDE FOR UNIT TYPE STRANDERS 5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Sept. 8.1949 S. P/ T T m/ws/v TORS G. C. SPILLMAN Y L.G.WADE

A T Tom/5r Feb. 6, 1951 s. PITT ETAL 2,540,333

STRAND GUIDE FOR UNIT TYPE STRANDERS Filed Sept. 8, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet2 //v l/EN 7005 G. C..SP/LL MA N L.G.WADE

By M No.9,

A T TOPNE Y Feb. 6, 1951 s. PITT EIAL STRAND GUIDE FOR UNIT TYPESTRANDERS Filed Sept. 8, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 m as 1H J llll 4/ 42INVENTORS G.C.SP/LLMAN L.G.WAD

BY MM Feb. 6, 1951 s. PITT ETAL 2,540,833

STRAND GUIDE FOR UNIT TYPE STRANDERS Filed Sept. 8, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet4 L G. WADE Feb. 6, 1951 s. PITT ETAL 2,540,333

I STRAND cum: FOR UNIT TYPE STRANDERS Filed Sept. 8, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet5 T .S. PITT lNVENTORS GCSP/LLMAN L. GWADE ham- A 7 TO/PNE y guidingpassageways.

Patented Feb. 6, 1951 STRAND GUIDE FOR UNIT TYPE STRANDERS Samuel Pitt,Westfield, Gordon 0. Spillman, Roselle, and Lorentz G. Wade, Westfield,N. J., assignors to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Application September 8, 1949, Serial No.114,624

8 Claims.

ill

for the strands, but such guides have not maintained accurate control ofthe strands sufliciently close to the point where they are spirallytwisted together to control the laying of the strands in their exactpositions in the cable.

An object of the invention is to provide a strand guide for unit typestranders wherein the individual strands or pairs of strands areindividually guided to the position where they are twisted together toproduce a uniform unit or cable.

In accordance with the object, the invention comprises interfittinhollow members with fins providing individual guiding passageways forthe strands leading them to their exact positions in a cable formed fromthe strands.

More specifically the strand guide includes a conical housing with anintermediate conical member having radially extending fins disposed (inthe housing to produce individual strand An inner conical member similarto the intermediate conical member, having radially extending finsproviding indivldual guiding passageways is normally held in theintermediate member and the intermediate member is normally held in thehousing by the combined forces of the strands during their advancementlongitudinally. A cam is actuable into a position, where it is held by alatch, to move both the intermediate and inner members outwardly intoopen positions to allow the conventional knots to pass through the guidewhen the following ends of the first set of strands are tied to theleading ends of a new supply of strands.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdetailed description when considered in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of thestrand guide mounted in advance of a forming die in a stranding machine:

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view 01' the stranding guide looking fromthe right of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is another end elevational view of the iii strand guide lookingfrom the left of the unit in Fig. 1;

Fig. d is alongitudinal sectional view of the conical housing;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the strand guide showing theintermediate and inher units moved by the cam into their open positions;

Fig. 6 is an isometric view of the yoke and push rods for use in movingthe inner member into its open position;

Fig. 7 is an end elevational view of the intermediate member;

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectional View of the intermediate member takenalong the line 8-l of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 9-9 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 10 is an end elevational view or the inner member;

Fig. 11 is a longitudinal sectional view of the inner member taken alongthe line li--ll of Fig. 10; and

Fig. 12 is an end elevational view of another species of an innermember.

Referring now to the drawings, the strand guide has a supporting bracketmounted upon a frame 2| of one of the units in a stranding machinesupporting a die 22 which is rotated in the conventional manner tospirally twist strands 23, which in the present embodiment are insulatedelectrical conductors to form a cable unit. The bracket 20 is mounted onthe frame by the aid of machine screws 24 extending through elongateapertures 25 in the bracket for mounting the bracket a given distancefrom the die 22, controlled by an adjustable stop 26. The upper portionof the bracket has a concaved recess 21 therein cooperating with aconcaved recess 28 of a clamp 29 to removably receive an annular portion30 of a housing 3|. One end of the clamp 29 is hinged at 32 while theother end is notched at 33 (Fig. 2) to receive a bolt 34 provided with awing nut 35 to secure the clamp in position and in this manner firmlyhold the housing 3| in place. A locking screw 36 threadedly mounted inan aperture 31 in the clamp 29 normally extends into an annular groove38 of the housing 3| to secure the housing against rotation.

In the present embodiment of the invention the housing 3| is conical ingeneral contour, particularly the inner portion 40 thereof and is formedinto two parts 4| and 42 joined together accurately by the aid of twosets of pins 43 and 3 44 firmly mounted in apertures in the part 4| andremovably receivable in apertures 45 and 45 of the part 42. The housing3|, that is the parts 4| and 42 thereof, is provided with sets ofapertures 48 and 49 to receive pins for the intermediate and innermembers of the guide.

The intermediate member shown in detail in Figs. 7 and 8 issubstantially conical in general contour and formed of members 52 and 53secured together in the same manner. as the parts 4| and 42 of thehousing are secured together, namely by the aid of sets of pins 54 and55, fixedly mounted in apertures of the part 52 and removably receivablein apertures 56 and 51 of the part 53. The parts 52 and 53 of theintermediate member 5| have substantially radially extending fins 58receivable in the conical opening 40 of the housing 4| and cooperatingtherewith to provide individual passageways 59 for an outer group ofstrands. Pins 60 fixedly 'i iiounted in apertures 6| of the parts 52 and53 are receivable in the apertures 48 of the housing 3| serving asejecting or cam actuable pins in moving the intermediate member intoopen position.

An'inner member indicated generally at 55 shown in detail in Figs. and11 is substantially conical in general contour and receivable in theconical opening 64 of the intermediate member 5|. The inner member 65 isalso similar in contour to the intermediate member in that it is formedof two parts 66 and 61 removably joined together by sets of pins 68 and69 which are fixedly mounted in apertures in the member 55 and removablyreceivable in apertures 10 and 1| in the member 61. The members 65 and51 in this species of the invention have a like number of radicallyextending fins 13 which when disposed in the conical opening 65 of theintermediate member 5| will form a plurality of individual passageways14 for the strands 23. A pin I5 carried by the part 61 of the member 55is receivable in a groove 11 of the part 53 of the member 5| to maintainaccurate positioning of the members 5| and 55 and to hold the member 55against rotation within the member 5|. Cooperating longitudinal groovesin the parts 56 and 51 provide a central passageway 80 through themember 55 for the core strands 23 as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. Anannular flange 8| oi the member 65 composed of the semi-circular membersof the parts 56 and 61 cooperates with yoke members 83 (Fig. 6) whichcarry pins 84 receivable in the apertures 43 of the housing 3| and inaligned apertures 85 in the parts 52 and 53 of the intermediate member5|. The position of the pins 84 in the aligned apertures of theintermediate member and the housing assure maintenance of the yokemembers 83 in engagement with the flange 3| of the inner member 65.

The'inner member 55 as shown in Fig. 10 is provided with eight fins anda central core opening the fins dividing the conical opening 56 of theintermediate member into eight passageways. It is possible to vary thenumber of individual passageways depending upon the number of strands orpairs of strands to be advanced through the guide. As an illustration,the species of an inner member 90 shown in Fig. 12 is identical in everydetail to the structure shown in Figs. 10 and 11 with the exception ofthe number of fins, there being shown nine fins 9| in addition to thecore passageway thus dividing the opening 65 of the intermediate unitinto nine individual passageways.

A substantially U-shaped cam 95. fixed to a hand lever 36 and pivotallysupported at 31 on the clamp 29, is normally urged into the positionshown in Fig. 1 by a spring 98, one end of which 5 is fixed to a pin 93and the other end connected to the hand lever 96 at I00. The ends of thecam 35 tend to straddle the inner end of the housing 3| and arepositioned to engage the pins 84 and 50 when moved from the positionshown in Fig. 1

to the position shown in Fig. 5. A latch I02 pivotally supported at I03on the hand lever 38 rides on the upper surface of the clamp 29 until itenters a notch I04 where it remains. until released, holding the cam 95in its actuated position (Fig. 5). The cam first engages the pins 34moving the yoke 83 a given distance to move the inner member 55 relativeto the intermediate member 5|. Continued movement of the cam into itslatched position will move the pins 84 with the inner member a furtherdistance during which time the cam will engage the pins 60 and move themlongitudinally moving the intermediate members into the open positionshown in Fig. 5. When in this position, the individual passageways areopened or enlarged substantially doubling their cross-sectional areas toenable knotted ends of the strands to pass through the unit after-whichthe unit may be closed by lifting the latch I02 from the notch I04allowing the spring 38 to function in returning the lever and cam totheir normal positions.

During the normal operation of the guide, the inner member 65 is heldfirmly in the aperture 56 of the intermediate member 5| by the forcecontributed by the strands 23 in advancing longitudinally through theirindividual passageways. The same efiect takes place regarding theintermediate member in that the strands or pairs of strands 23travelling through their individual passageways 53 will contribute asuflicient force to hold the intermediate member in place. It isapparent that the housing 3| formed of substantially conical memberswith similar conical inner portions constructed and held together in thesame manner as the intermediate member 5| and the inner member 65 whenin use, compose three interfitting units which may be readily assembledor disassembled. Furthermore, the interfitting arrangement of themembers assures against rotation of one of the members with respect toanother, and the utilization of the forces received from the advancingstrands to maintain these members in assembly, eliminates the necessityof holding means and renders the opening mechanism, which constitutesonly the cam and its latch, accessible to readily open the guide eitherwhile the strander is idle or during operation thereof, merely by movingthe cam from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig.5. Furthermore, the inner member and the intermediate member willautomatically move into closed position when released by the cam duringoperation of the strander. Furthermore, the construction of the guide issuch that the various parts are removably joined together in a singleplane, completing what appears to be a solid unit during normaloperation of the strander of which the guide is an important part, withmembers movable into open positions when desired and wherein the partsmay be divided simultaneously when the guide is removed from the clamp.

It is to be understood that the above described arrangements are simplyillustrative of the ap- 75 plication of the principles of the invention.

Numerous other arrangements may be readily devised by those skilled ilnthe art which will embody the principles of the invention and fallwithin the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A guide for longitudinally advancing strands to be assembled into acable, the guide comprising a housing having a substantially conicalshaped opening therethrough, a substantially conical member havinglongitudinal grooves in the periphery thereof closed by the surface ofthe opening in the housing to complete individual passageways for thestrands to guide them to their respective locations in the cable, themember being held in the openin of the housing by an accumulatedfrictional force derived from the strands while the strands areadvancing through the passageways, and a mechanism actuable to move themember relative to the housing to increase the sizes of the passagewaysfor the passage of knotted ends of the strands.

2. A guide for longitudinally advancing strands to be assembled into acable, the guide comprising a housing having a substantially conicalshaped opening therethrough, a substantially conical member havinglongitudinal grooves in the periphery thereof closed by the surface theopening in the housing to complete individual passageways for thestrands to guide them to their respective locations in the cable, the

member being held in the opening of the hous-- ing by an accumulatedfrictional force derived from the strands while the strands areadvancing through the passageways, a mechanism actuable to move themember relative to the housing to increase the sizes of the passagewaysfor the passage of knotted ends of the strands, and a latch to hold themechanism in the actuated position.

3. A guide for longitudinally advancing strands to be assembled into acable, the guide comprising a housing having a substantially conicalshaped opening therethrough, an intermediate substantially conicalmember having a substantially conical opening therethrough and radiallyextending fins forming longitudinally extending grooves closed by thesurface of the opening of the housin to complete an outer series ofindividual passageways for certain of the strands to guide them to theirrespective locations in the cable, an inner substantially conical memherhaving radially extending fins forming longttudinally extending groovesclosed by the surface of the opening of the intermediate member tocomplete an inner series of individual passageways for other strands toguide them to their respective locations in the cable, and a mechanismactuable to move the members relative to each other and the housing toincrease the sizes of the passageways for the passage of knotted ends ofthe strands.

4. A guide for longitudinally advancing strands to be assembled into acable, the guide comprising a housing having a substantially conicalshaped opening. therethrough, an intermediate substantially conicalmember having a substantially conical opening therethrough and radiallyextendin fins forming longitudinally extending grooves closed by thesurface of the opening of the housing to complete an outer series ofindividual passageways for certain of the strands to guide them to theirrespective locations in the cable, an inner substantially conical memberhaving a central longitudinal aperture for core strands and radiallyextending fins forming longitudinally extending groovm closed by thesurface or the opening of theintermediate member to complete an innerseries of individual passageways for other strands to guide them totheir respective locations between the outer series of strands and thecore strands in the cable, push rods carried by the inner andintermediate members, and an element actuable to move the rods to movethe members relative to the housin and each other to increase the sizesof the passageways.

. 5. In a stranding machine having a rotatable die to receivelongitudinally advancing strands and spirally twist them into a cable orthe like, a guide for the strands comprising a housing having asubstantially conical shaped opening therethrough disposed in alignmentwith the die with its exit and closely adjacent the die, an intermediatesubstantially conical member having a substantially conical openingtherethrough and radially extending fins forming longitudb nallyextending grooves closed by the surface of the opening oi the housing tocomplete anouter series of individual passageways for certain of thestrands to guide them to their respective locations in the cable, aninner substantially conical member having radially extending finsforming longitudinally extending grooves closed by the surface of theopening oi the intermediate member to complete an inner series ofindividual passageways for other strands to guide them to theirrespective locations in the cable, and a mechanism actuable duringrotation oi the die and longitudinal advancement of the strands to movethe members relative to each other and the housing to increase the sizesof the passageways.

6. A guide for longitudinally advancing strands to be assembled into acable, the guide comprising a housing having a substantially conicalshaped opening therethrough, a substantially conical member havinglongitudinal grooves in the periphery thereof closed by the surface ofthe opening in the housing to complete individual passageways for thestrands to guide them to their respective locations in the cable, thehousing and the member being formed in sections, and individualinterfitting means to removably secure the housing and member sectionstogether whereby the sections of the die may be separatedsimultaneously.

7. A guide for longitudinally advancing strands to be assembled into acable, the guide comprising a housing having a substantially conicalshaped opening therethrough, an intermediate substantially conicalmember having a substantially conical opening therethrough and radiallyextending fins forming longitudinally extending grooves closed by thesurface of the opening of the housing to complete an outer series ofindividual passageways for certain of the strands to guide them to theirrespective locations in the cable, and an inner substantially conicalmember having radially extending fins forming longitudinally extendinggrooves closed by the surface of the opening of the intermediate memberto complete an inner series of individual passageways for other strandsto guide them to their respective 10- cations in the cable, the housing,the intermediate member and the inner member being formed ofinterconnected sections whereby the die may be divided into a pluralityof parts by simultaneously disconnecting the sections.

8. A guide for longitudinally advancing strands to be assembled into acable, the guide comprising a housing having a substantially conicaltially conical opening therethrough and radially extending fins forminglongitudinally extending grooves closed by the surface of the opening ofthe housing to complete an outer series of individual passageways forcertain of the strands to guide them to their respective locations inthe cable, an inner substantially conical member having radiallyextending fins forming longitudinally extending grooves closed by thesurface of the opening of the intermediate member to complete an innerseries of individual passageways for other strands to guide them totheir respective locations in the cable, the housing, the intermediatemember and the inner member being formed of interconnected sectionswhereby the die may be divided into a plurality of parts bysimultaneously disconnecting the sections, and separate interconnectingmeans to hold the inner member against rotation in the intermediatemember and the intermediate member against rotation in the housing.

SAMUEL PITT.

GORDON C. SPILLMAN.

LORENTZ G. WADE.

REFERENCES orrr-zn The following references are oi record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date.

400,285 Barraclough et al. Mar. 26, 1889 2,260,443 Downing, S1 Oct. 28,1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 237,898 Germany Sept. 13. 1911

